People who crate trained their puppies how long until you gave your dog free reign of the house (no longer crated them)?

My monster was around 5 or 6 months old as well. We had the kennel (well, it was a custom made crate for more space) up against the back of the couch, and over the course of a week he managed to pull a pillow through the fence and into the crate to destroy, then escaped twice. Both times when I came home after his escapes, I found that nothing in the house was wrecked at all. Seems he just broke out for the sake of freedom, then behaved himself once he was free. Didn’t crate him anymore after that.

I think it really depends on the individual dog/puppy and the situation. With my dogs, I've typically been able to let them start sleeping out of the crate at night in the bedroom with the door closed around 6 months. Totally free reign, (unsupervised with no one home), for my current dog was around 15 months.

No accidents, definitely. That happened a lot sooner then 6 months though. No chewing, was okay being left alone for short periods of time, (like going to the bathroom, running outside, etc). I started with leaving her crate in the bedroom with a gate up so she couldn't leave the room. Gradually started giving her more and more space. Like I said though, all dogs are different. We adopted a 9mo and never crated him and he was perfect in the house.

our dog has some separation anxiety and i'm concerned about him barking at every noise he hears if he's not in his crate when he's home alone. if i didn't live in an apartment building, i'd care a lot less, and would just lock him up in the bedroom where there's nothing for him to get into and he can't harrass my chinchilla.

Our pup was about 6-7 months old when we gave her free run of the house. It was actually on accident, my wife thought i put her in the crate, I thought she had. When we came home we quietly looked in the window and she was chillin in her crate with the door wide open.

But I work from home so she is out of it (and confined to the living room where I work with a gate as we are only in a small flat) most of the day and we only use it at bedtime and the occasional evening we go out.

We probably could leave her un-crated without issue now but I feel much more relaxed knowing she is safe and comfortable and warm when we have to leave her alone.

We got Simon when he was 9 months, so he was mostly potty-trained by then. We did it more to protect the house we're renting, lol. But he really enjoys his crate. Cold days he'll go in and snuggle up in the blankets and snore away.

It was a couple months in before we stopped crating him when we left. I wanted Simon to understand that the crate was a good thing, so we used it all the time. Started using it less and less, and now he's only crated at bedtime. (He paces a lot otherwise and he purposefully walks on his toes so that his nails click and we pay attention to him...jerk.)

Occasionally I'll crate him when I run errands. He has bones and stuff to chomp on, but he mostly just sleeps.

My pup had limited reign by 6 months and full reign at about 8 months and he is a year and a half now. He has never destroyed anything or peed in the house etc etc. Very well behaved pup over all. He just sleeps when we are gone (we used to have a webcam set up to see what he does)

It really does depend on the dog. Smaller dogs can be harder to potty train than larger ones. I have two puppies, brother and sister who are 11 months old. The boy has no problems but the girl will still pee in the house if I don't watch constantly. Even with the outside door wide open. She's back to crate/leash training. :( Long story short, two dogs, same age, same genetics (mostly), same training. One has issues and one doesn't.

My Rotti x Shep is going to be two in March and she doesn't yet have free reign over the house. Juno is a chewer, and I can leave her bones, toys, etcetera, but she has a history of eating the cords to appliances, and we just bought a leather couch and I don't want to risk having her go on the couch and/or chew it.

I want to be able to let her have free reign, but I don't feel 100% confident leaving her alone yet. I'm hoping to leave her out when she's about two and a half though. My only fear is the couch since I can protect the TV and DVD players and everything with some tools and supplies in my house.

EDIT

I also live in an apartment, so I kind of don't want to let her out since we've had a problem every once in a while with superintendents and maintenance crews coming into my unit unannounced. The Supers tried to get on our ass about my dog, but I told them they need to give me 24 hours notice before entering my unit and to get fucked, but I don't want to put my dog in that situation. I love her too much.

It's a point of disagreement in our house; we started leaving her out for short periods of time around 7 months. We began letting her sleep in our room at night around then too, with the door closed. Now (1 year, 2 months) if we're going to be gone for hours, sometimes we'll let her hang out in the room her crate's in. Sometimes we still put her in the crate.

We still don't give her full reign of the house and I don't really see that changing. We rent so I'm overly paranoid of her doing something that will get us stuck with a big bill when we move. She enjoys being in her crate and I enjoy her not scratching the door when she gets anxious. She gets pissy whenever someone comes to the door or walks by the house, so I do it to prevent barking as well.

It really depends on your dog. I would think a few months without a chewing or peeing accident and you could start with short trips with him free in the house. It also depends if your dog gets anxious when you leave.